The display for sale of novelty items such as drop-on sunglass attachments presents several difficulties. It is highly desirable for a prospective purchaser to try on the drop-on sunglass attachment prior to purchasing, in order to ensure a proper fit, appearance, and utility. Accommodating prospective sampling of the product by the purchaser by allowing removal of the product from the packaging has presented several problems. The most obvious problem is theft of the product; removal of the product from the packaging enables a nefarious individual to easily hide the product in his or her baggage or on his or her person, or to wear the product out of the store. A less obvious but nevertheless a costly problem is the store employee labor required to repackage a product that has been removed from its packaging by a prospective purchaser, only to be set down without being repackaged by the purchaser after he or she has decided not to purchase the product.
The prior art has addressed some of the problems that accompany paperboard card and display packaging design. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,836 to Strauss et al. discloses a hanger with temple support for display of eyeglasses. The hanger includes a central portion and a pair of opposing arms that extend down toward the temples of the eyeglasses. The hanger also includes a respective temple panel at each arm of the hanger and connected therewith by a hinge permitting the panel to swing with reference to each arm. The panel further includes a plurality of openings through which the temples of the glasses are threaded, such that the panels pivot around the hanger hinges along with the pivoting temples and pivot with respect to the arms of the hanger. U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,505 discloses a similar arrangement. While supporting novelty glasses by the temples is appropriate for eye wear that has temples, such a method would not be adaptable to clip-on or drop-in attachments for eyeglasses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,826 to Pacelli discloses a pilfer-proof display package for sunglasses adapted to enable a prospective purchaser to test-fit the sunglasses prior to purchase without removing from the package. The display package comprises a shaped transparent receptacle comprising a bottom wall and a side wall for receiving the frame and lenses of a pair of sunglasses and extending therearound. The receptacle has attached to it a card for imprinting trademark and product sales data; the card has a hole to allow display on a sales display rod. The receptacle is open on the sides to allow the temples of the sunglasses to protrude, allowing the prospective purchaser to try on the sunglasses. When used in this mode, the transparent receptacle allows the prospective purchaser to view through the lenses to evaluate the product for suitability. This invention, however, does not allow the prospective purchaser to sample the true fit and feel of the sunglasses, nor does it allow an unobstructed view through the lenses of the sunglasses. A second embodiment of this invention is a display package for a pair of clip-on sunglasses that includes clips and a nose piece. This embodiment comprises connected hollow members that generally contain the clip-on sunglass attachment, while allowing the clips and nose piece of the clip-on sunglasses to protrude from the package. In this configuration, the clip-on sunglasses may be fitted to a prospective purchaser's glasses without removing the product from the packaging; however, this will still not allow a prospective purchaser to sample an unobstructed view through the lenses.
A prior art display card exists for displaying a drop-on sunglass attachment as illustrated in FIG. 1. This prior art card is rectangular, and slightly wider than the drop-on sunglass attachment. The card has a hole near the top edge centrally located between the right and left sides that can engage a horizontal display rod. As shown in FIG. 2, the card includes a vertical slit on the right and left sides that receive the swept-back "wings" of the drop-on sunglass attachment. The sunglass attachment must be removed from the display card by the prospective purchaser in order to try on the sunglass attachment. If the prospective purchaser removes the sunglass attachment from the display card and subsequently decides not to purchase the product, it is likely that the sunglass attachment will not be properly replaced in the display card, necessitating store labor to properly rehang the sunglass attachment. Further, because the sunglass attachment hangs freely from the display card, errant contact by customers or employees may dislodge the sunglass attachment, causing it to fall.
A need exists, therefore, for an easily and inexpensively produced mounting to display a drop-on sunglass attachment that allows a prospective consumer to sample the sunglass attachment prior to purchasing without removal of the sunglass attachment from the display card.